Rick Funaro

I manage social media for @FiftyCAN | Formerly Deputy Comms Director for @AGWilliamTong. Ex @CTHouseDems, Hearst CT, @NewBritainBees | @QuinnipiacU '14

[National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum ⚾ @baseballhall]

For the past two weeks, you’ve been reading about a bad break. Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth.

I have been in ballparks for 17 years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans.

When you look around, wouldn’t you consider it a privilege to associate yourself with such a fine looking men as are standing in uniform in this ballpark today? Sure, I’m lucky.

Who wouldn’t consider it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert? Also, the builder of baseball’s greatest empire, Ed Barrow? To have spent six years with that wonderful little fellow, Miller Huggins?

Then to have spent the next nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology, the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy? Sure, I’m lucky.

When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a gift – that’s something.

When everybody down to the groundskeepers and those boys in white coats remember you with trophies – that’s something.

When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles with her own daughter – that’s something.

When you have a father and a mother who work all their lives so you can have an education and build your body – it’s a blessing.

When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed – that’s the finest I know.

So I close in saying that I might have been given a bad break, but I’ve got an awful lot to live for. Thank you.

[50CAN @FiftyCAN]

Introducing The 50CAN Education Talks.

The 50CAN Education Talks welcome educators, advocates and policymakers who are contributing leading ideas to American education. Ideas that you might not have heard about until now!

Join us each Tuesday over the next month as our inaugural group of speakers dive into topics from AI in education to the most common myths about homeschooling families.

Subscribe to 50CAN on YouTube to watch the full talks and get notified when a new one drops.

[New York Yankees @Yankees]

It’s a Judgian blast! All Rise, here comes the Judge!

[Rick Funaro @Rick_Funaro]

@SeanScanlonCT And a horrible score bug. Someone in the upper deck at the actual game has a better chance of being able to see the count and player names.

[50CAN @FiftyCAN]

The second edition of the State of Educational Opportunity in America Survey has arrived!

Our new Educational Opportunity Survey reveals surprising insights to the dozens of questions we asked of more than 23,000 parents nationwide.

Questions such as:

-Are parents satisfied with their children’s schools?
-Do enough students have access to tutoring and mental health services?
-How are students dividing time between homework and social media?
-What does student AI usage look like?
-Are students being well prepared for college and career?

Our CEO and founder Marc Porter Magee breaks down what families told us this year and what it means for the future of education.

Read the full report 👉 https://t.co/WVsIlyLz49

[50CAN @FiftyCAN]

Schools may have just started, but the report cards are already in...and the grades are not good.

Yesterday's report from NEAP highlighted some disturbing trends:

➡️ The worst 12th grade reading scores in the history of the test
➡️ Declines were sharpest in students who are already behind
➡️ Girls saw the biggest drop in reading scores

[YES Network @YESNetwork]

Old-Timers' Day introductions begin! #YANKSonYES

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

Today more than ever, humanity cries out and calls for peace. This is a cry that requires responsibility and reason, and it must not be drowned out by the din of weapons or the rhetoric that incites conflict. Every member of the international community has a moral responsibility to stop the tragedy of war before it becomes an irreparable chasm. There are no “distant” conflicts when human dignity is at stake.

[Jomboy Media @JomboyMedia]

Pope Leo on the broadcast for Game 1 of the 2005 World Series

[Ben Heisler @bennyheis]

A new Pope from Chicago needs a true Chicago introduction... 🔊

[James Martin, SJ @JamesMartinSJ]

"Well done, thou good and faithful servant" (Mt 25:21).

[Vatican News @vaticannews_pt]

#PapaFrancisco

[Rick Funaro @Rick_Funaro]

@rickygervais Hey wow I took this picture! Great to hear you're coming back. Would love a tag if possible!

[Rick Funaro @Rick_Funaro]

@yankeethrowback Wow yep! I have a ball from that day somewhere with the score on it. I remember being so devastated that El Duque was horrible because he was one of my favorites back then ha

[Rick Funaro @Rick_Funaro]

@YESNetwork @Toyota Passing on the love for the Yankees to the next generation! My grandfather had DiMaggio, my dad had Munson, I had Jeter, and now Nico has Judge.
Nico was born in the middle of a World Series run and yesterday already got to see his first 3 HR game!
#ToyotaPinstripePride

[James Martin, SJ @JamesMartinSJ]

I have a hard time believing that anyone would say, as @elonmusk did, "The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy." In fact, the fundamental weakness is a lack of empathy.

Many years ago, a spiritual director told me that sympathy is understanding how you would feel suffering someone's misfortunates. Empathy is understanding how they feel. Compassion is being willing to suffer alongside them.

A lack of empathy is at the heart of our mistreatment (and mockery and growing hatred) of the poor, of migrants and refugees, of LGBTQ people, and of all those on the margins. It is not only a lack of imagination; it is also a fundamental lack of mercy towards those whom some consider "other."

One basis of contemporary Western civilization is capitalism. I'm a @Wharton grad and a capitalist. That means that I believe capitalism is the most efficient system of distributing goods and services to the most number of people. But it's not perfect. How do we know this? Just look at the millions of poor people around the world. What capitalism, the free-market system, laissez-faire economics and Adam Smith's "Invisible Hand" lack is a sense of empathy for those who are suffering. (They used to be called at Wharton the "transitional poor," as if, at some point, everyone would soon share in greater prosperity.) Empathy led us to create safety nets for those that capitalism fails. But now those nets are being shredded.

James F. Keenan, SJ, the moral theologian, once described compassion (which, from the Greek, means to suffer or experience with) as the willingness "to enter in the chaos of another person's life." This is what Jesus always did whenever he encountered someone who was seen as "other": a Roman centurion, a Samaritan woman, someone suffering from leprosy, anyone who was sick, the poor. Empathy, as well as compassion, were at the very heart of Jesus's public ministry.

This is also how we are called to live. The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is a lack of empathy.

As Jesus said, "Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice'" (Mt 9:13).

[UConn Women’s Basketball @UConnWBB]

No words needed for her impact on the game.

Congrats on an unmatched career, Dee 💙

[New York Yankees @Yankees]

Learning from the Legend 🐊

[Melanie D'Arrigo @DarrigoMelanie]

Elon Musk spent $290 million to buy our government to be the shadow President, and is spending $400 million buying his own trucks — $110 million profit.

Are you finally starting to understand why activists fought so hard to end dark and corporate money in politics?